# 2021 Canadian Championship

The 2021 Canadian Championship was the fourteenth edition of the Canadian Championship, contested from August 15 to November 21, 2021. The winners of the tournament, CF Montréal, were awarded the Voyageurs Cup and earned a berth in the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League.

## Format

The competition followed a similar format to the originally proposed 2020 edition with four rounds and regional pairings in the first two rounds. For the first time in the Canadian Championship, each tie was played as a single-leg fixture. CF Montréal, Forge FC, and Toronto FC entered the tournament in the quarter-finals due to their placements in the 2019 and 2020 editions of the competition. All other teams entered in the preliminary round of the tournament.
A.S. Blainville and Master's FA were originally supposed to participate in the 2020 edition of the competition, as they won the 2019 editions of the Première ligue de soccer du Québec and League1 Ontario, respectively. As the format of the 2020 edition was revised, their participation was postponed to the 2021 tournament.

### Distribution

Distribution of teams for 2021 Canadian Championship :
| Round | Teams entering in this round | Teams advancing from previous round |
| Preliminary round (10 teams) | 1 champion of 2019 League1 Ontario season 1 champion of 2019 Première ligue de soccer du Québec season 7 Canadian Premier League teams 1 Major League Soccer team | |
| Quarter-finals (8 teams) | 1 winner of the 2019 Canadian Championship 2 finalists of the 2020 Canadian Championship | 5 winners from the preliminary round |
| Semi-finals (4 teams) | | 4 winners from the quarter-finals |
| Final (2 teams) | | 2 winners from the semi-finals |

## Qualified clubs

Canadian Premier League Major League Soccer Other
| Club | Location | League | Round of entry | Previous best | Prior appearances |
| A.S. Blainville | Blainville, Quebec | Première ligue de soccer du Québec | Preliminary round | Second qualifying round: 1 | 2 |
| Atlético Ottawa | Ottawa, Ontario | Canadian Premier League | Preliminary round | N/A | 0 |
| Cavalry FC | Foothills County, Alberta | Canadian Premier League | Preliminary round | Semi-finals: 1 | 1 |
| FC Edmonton | Edmonton, Alberta | Canadian Premier League | Preliminary round | Semi-finals: 5 | 8 |
| Forge FC | Hamilton, Ontario | Canadian Premier League | Quarter-finals | Second qualifying round: 1 | 1 |
| HFX Wanderers | Halifax, Nova Scotia | Canadian Premier League | Preliminary round | Third qualifying round: 1 | 1 |
| Master's FA | Toronto, Ontario | League1 Ontario | Preliminary round | N/A | 0 |
| CF Montréal | Montreal, Quebec | Major League Soccer | Quarter-finals | Champions: 4 | 12 |
| Pacific FC | Langford, British Columbia | Canadian Premier League | Preliminary round | First qualifying round: 1 | 1 |
| Toronto FC | Toronto, Ontario | Major League Soccer | Quarter-finals | Champions: 7 | 12 |
| Valour FC | Winnipeg, Manitoba | Canadian Premier League | Preliminary round | Second qualifying round: 1 | 1 |
| Vancouver Whitecaps FC | Vancouver, British Columbia | Major League Soccer | Preliminary round | Champions: 1 | 12 |
| York United FC | Toronto, Ontario | Canadian Premier League | Preliminary round | Third qualifying round: 1 | 1 |
Note
* Statistics include previous incarnations of FC Edmonton, Montreal Impact, and Vancouver Whitecaps
* Appearances in the 2020 Canadian Championship are not included for Toronto FC and Forge FC because it was not played until 2022

## Schedule

| Round | Dates | Teams |
| Preliminary round | August 15–26 | 10 (Atlético Ottawa, A.S. Blainville, Cavalry FC, FC Edmonton, HFX Wanderers, Master's FA, Pacific FC, Valour FC, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, York United) |
| Quarter-finals | September 14–22 | 8 (Cavalry FC, CF Montréal, Forge FC, HFX Wanderers, Pacific FC, Toronto FC, Valour FC, York United) |
| Semi-finals | October 27 – November 3 (originally September 28–29) | 4 (CF Montréal, Forge FC, Pacific FC, Toronto FC) |
| Final | November 21 (originally October 19–27) | 2 (CF Montréal, Toronto FC) |

## Bracket

The bracket was announced on July 19, 2021.
| Preliminary round August 15–26 | Preliminary round August 15–26 | Quarter-finals September 15–22 | Quarter-finals September 15–22 | | Semi-finals October 27 – November 3 | Semi-finals October 27 – November 3 | | Final November 21 | Final November 21 |
| | | September 15 | September 15 | | | | | |
| | | Forge FC | 2 | | | | |
| August 21 | August 21 | | Forge FC | 2 | | | | |
| August 21 | August 21 | Valour FC | 1 | | | | |
| Atlético Ottawa | 2 | Valour FC | 1 | | | | |
| Atlético Ottawa | 2 | | | | October 27 | October 27 | | |
| Valour FC | 3 | | | | October 27 | October 27 | |
| Valour FC | 3 | | | | Forge FC | 0 (7) | |
| August 17 | August 17 | | | | | Forge FC | 0 (7) | |
| August 17 | August 17 | | | | CF Montréal (p) | 0 (8) | |
| HFX Wanderers | 2 | | | | CF Montréal (p) | 0 (8) | |
| HFX Wanderers | 2 | September 22 | September 22 | | | | | |
| A.S. Blainville | 1 | September 22 | September 22 | | | | |
| A.S. Blainville | 1 | HFX Wanderers | 1 | | | | |
| | | CF Montréal | 3 | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | November 21 | November 21 |
| | | | | | | | | CF Montréal | 1 |
| | | | | | | | | Toronto FC | 0 |
| | | September 22 | September 22 | | | | | | |
| | | Toronto FC | 4 | | | | | | |
| August 21 | August 21 | | Toronto FC | 4 | | | | | |
| August 21 | August 21 | York United | 0 | | | | | | |
| York United | 5 | York United | 0 | | | | | | |
| York United | 5 | | | | November 3 | November 3 | | | |
| Master's FA | 0 | | | | November 3 | November 3 | | | |
| Master's FA | 0 | | | | Toronto FC | 2 | | | |
| August 15 | August 15 | | | | | Toronto FC | 2 | | |
| August 15 | August 15 | | | | Pacific FC | 1 | |
| FC Edmonton | 0 | | | | Pacific FC | 1 | |
| FC Edmonton | 0 | September 22 | September 22 | | | | | |
| Cavalry FC | 2 | September 22 | September 22 | | | | |
| Cavalry FC | 2 | Cavalry FC | 0 | | | | |
| August 26 | August 26 | | Cavalry FC | 0 | | | | |
| August 26 | August 26 | Pacific FC | 1 | | | | |
| Pacific FC | 4 | Pacific FC | 1 | | | | |
| Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 3 | | | | | | |

## Preliminary round
### Summary

The preliminary round matches were held between August 15 and 26, 2021.
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| FC Edmonton | 0–2 | Cavalry FC |
| HFX Wanderers | 2–1 | A.S. Blainville |
| York United | 5–0 | Master's FA |
| Atlético Ottawa | 2–3 | Valour FC |
| Pacific FC | 4–3 | Vancouver Whitecaps FC |

### Matches
## Quarter-finals
### Summary

| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Forge FC | 2–1 | Valour FC |
| HFX Wanderers | 1–3 | CF Montréal |
| Toronto FC | 4–0 | York United |
| Cavalry FC | 0–1 | Pacific FC |

### Matches
## Semi-finals
### Summary

| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Forge FC | 0–0 (7–8 p) | CF Montréal |
| Toronto FC | 2–1 | Pacific FC |

### Matches
## Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Team | Goals | By round | By round | By round | By round |
| Rank | Player | Team | Goals | PR | QF | SF | F |
| 1 | Austin Ricci | Valour FC | 3 | 2 | 1 | | |
| 2 | Cory Bent | HFX Wanderers | 2 | 1 | 1 | | |
| 2 | Terran Campbell | Pacific FC | 2 | 1 | 1 | | |
| 2 | Alejandro Díaz | Pacific FC | 2 | 1 | | 1 | |
| 2 | Ryan Gauld | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | 2 | 2 | | | |
| 2 | Ballou Tabla | CF Montréal | 2 | | 2 | | |
| 2 | Julian Ulbricht | York United | 2 | 2 | | | |

## Awards

* George Gross Memorial Trophy: Sebastian Breza (CF Montréal)
* Best Young Canadian Player Award: Jacob Shaffelburg (Toronto FC)